Five Month Lie | t. holland

May | III

There was certainly a lot of yelling coming
from the other room. What was going on?

Tom stood up from his desk and left his room. He was about to reach the kitchen when a girl walked into the hallway. Tom's spirits both rose and fell in a single instant as he realized it wasn't ___.

"Oh my gosh I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!" Kate screamed.

Tom raised his eyebrows.

"YOU!" She pointed at Tom.

Tom looked behind him then back at Kate. He pointed to himself. "Me?"

"Yes you, dumbass, how hard is it to respond? Gosh fame isn't everything."

"I'm sorry, what's going on?" Tom had to actually force himself to use an American accent because he was getting annoyed. Normally he broke out in British when that happened.

Then Harrison appeared in the doorway. "Mate..." he said. He wasn't forcing the accent.

Tom gave him a look.

"Relax, she knows." He tilted his head towards Kate, who was staring at Tom in disbelief.

"Knows what?" Tom folded his arms.

"That you're TOM EFFING HOLLAND!" She screamed.

Tom took a step back and anxiety filled his stomach. Kate knew?

"Oh my gosh, I can't believe I guessed it. Y'know I was with ___ when I put it together. I mean, really it was when I found this man's Instagram-" she hit Harrison playfully in the chest. "Because I saw you on his story and I knew it was the two of you. Plus-" she pulled out her phone and showed Tom his own Instagram page. "You really shouldn't advertise that you're visiting the States when you fly back from London. Someone will start to suspect." She beamed.

Tom was looking horrified. "I've blown it." He whispered. And this time he was forgoing the accent.

Harrison chimed in, "It's not a huge deal mate, ___ doesn't know yet-"

"Not a huge deal? Not a huge deal!" Tom leaned back into the wall of his condo. "I can't believe this. I cannot believe this."

Kate was bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Tom freaking Holland. Spider-Man, Hollywood Star,"

"Would you stop? Please? For once second I'd like to live without fans."

Kate stopped bouncing. But she still was smiling. ___ would have said "that's the thing about Kate, you could never insult her, she just isn't like that. She understands everyone too much."

"And now I've blown it." Tom rubbed his eyes.

"But..." Kate said. "I didn't tell her..."

"Yeah but you said you were with her when you figured it out!"

"But not really..." Kate shuffled her feet nervously. "I mean, I did say you looked a lot alike and that brown sweatshirt you have is in one of your Instagram pictures. Oh... and I also showed her a picture of your dog, and made the connection that you're both from London and both work in Hollywood..."

"Okay! Okay." Tom put his hands up. "Okay so you didn't tell her, but by now she's going to really suspect something."

Kate suddenly folded her arms and adopted a stern look. It vaguely reminded Tom of his own mother when she became skeptical. "Why are you lying to my best friend?" She narrowed her eyes.

Tom stuck his tongue between his teeth and sighed. "I..."

"You're taking advantage of her." She said.

"What? How?" His British accent was very prominent now.

"You've lied to her and taken advantage of her trust and innocence. P- I mean, Tom, she trusts you. She's kissed you."

"People kiss all the time in bars and stuff-"

"You know that's not what she's like." Kate said.

Tom looked down. "I know... gosh, I know. But gee I didn't realize I was taking advantage of her. That's the very last thing I'd want to do to her." He looked up and his brown eyes were wide with worry. "All I ever wanted was to protect her. And I didn't think I could do that right if she knew what I really am."

Harrison snickered.

"What's eating you?" Tom spat.

"Oh nothing, it's just, you're making it seem like you're some kind of monster." Harrison leaned against the doorframe to the kitchen.

"The cameras and the fans are the monsters." Tom mumbled.

"Whoa, that's harsh." Kate said.

"I'm sorry-" Tom ran a hand through his hair. "I'm just stressed and I'm scared that if I tell her-"

"When you tell her." Kate had that stern look again.

"Fine, when I tell her, I'm scared that she'll reject me. Either because I lied to her or because my life is so different than what she wants in her future. That's why I didn't tell her in the first place. I wanted a chance at something normal. With her... and gosh, all I want is for her to be happy, but I honestly don't know if I can go on living normally if I can't be with her. I've really never felt this way about any girl in my life. I..." Tom paused with a surprised look on his face.

"I think I'm in love with her." He said to himself.

Harrison and Kate shared a look.

Tom began to walk back to his room.

"Hey wait a minute," Kate called.

Tom looked over his shoulder.

"When are you going to tell her then? Hm? Don't you have a date tonight?"

"Tonight?" Tom looked horrified. "No, no, no, not tonight. No, she'd hate me."

"Mate, that won't make a difference. If she hates you she'll hate you no matter when you tell her." Harrison added.

"Yeah, and she might even hate you more if you wait longer." Kate said.

"It won't matter. This lie has been up for almost five months now. I can't believe this is happening." Tom turned to Harrison. "Haz, if I don't have her, I've got nothing."

"Ouch," Harrison faked a wound in his chest.

Tom rolled his eyes. "Will you take this seriously? Please? I'm trying to deal with my love life here."

"Well so am I." Harrison put his arm around Kate and she blushed.

But she smiled and nodded.

Tom blinked. "Okay... we're addressing this later," he motioned to their embrace. "But right now, can we talk about how I'm going to tell her? I'm honestly terrified."

The look in Tom's eyes seemed to soften the looks on both Harrison and Kate's faces. They glanced at each other and then smiled.

"Of course." Harrison put a hand on Tom's shoulder.

"Like, duh," Kate pulled out a stick of gum. "Let's get this party started."